Doggies delight in schooling session
Dog training at East Takaka Hall with Jenny Grant on Sunday mornings. Photo: Ina Holst.
On Sunday mornings the grounds at the East Takaka Hall wriggle with exuberant puppies frolicking about and sniffing the air in self-absorbed delight.
Attached to the other end of the leashes are their owners, concentrating hard while trying to keep the pups on track for another lesson on good doggy behaviour.
Dog trainer Jenny Grant stands relaxed in the middle, going over the last lesson and checking on progress and problems. The first class of the day is for pups to be socialised, stimulated and trained in behaviour basics. It puts the fundamentals in place and prepares them for further training when entering their teenage and adult stage.
During the eight-week course, the Motueka-based trainer holds classes for puppies from eight weeks and upwards, older dogs at various training stages and, most importantly, for their owners, who learn to make training lots of fun for their dogs and to use praise, rewards and positive motivation instead of punishment.
The owners learn to understand their dogs, speak doggy language and adopt certain leadership principles. In exchange for their owners’ goodwill, the dogs learn to sit, walk on the lead without pulling, stay, wait, lie down, socialise with good manners and, most importantly, to come on command.
Jenny sees her responsibilities as a trainer as broadly threefold. Firstly, she wants to show the owners how to train their dogs to be “socially acceptable members of society as well as happy, well-adjusted and safe family pets.”
She also believes dog training should ensure that non-dog-lovers can enjoy their lives free from unnecessary barking, strays and dog fouling. Thirdly, Jenny teaches owners to care for their pets and to understand their legal and moral responsibilities as owners or handlers.
“It is important that people understand how dogs think,” said Jenny. “If they don’t understand how a dog’s mind works then they cannot understand why they behave and react in certain ways. In this way, I hope to prevent many dogs from being dumped or euthanased through no fault of their own. If I can achieve all these things then I will have done my part to ensure a happy blend of people and dogs in our society, each being able to enjoy their lives without causing stress and misery to the other. Consequently, our best friends will be welcome and we will not find it ever more difficult to find nice places to walk with them.”
Jenny became interested in dog training when her husband gave her a German shepherd that presented certain challenges. After helping others with their training problems, she decided she would like to become a qualified trainer and attended several residential courses with the British Institute of Professional Dog Trainers. After six years of study, Jenny qualified as an advanced instructor, which entitled her to become a full member of the institute. She has taught and judged many students and their dogs under that scheme from the Puppy Foundation, through bronze, silver and gold tests.
She also bred her first litter of German shepherds in 1995 and continues her interest in showing and breeding them alongside her other canine pursuits.
Jenny is conscientious about helping dogs and owners who experience serious issues and said she would never send anybody with a problem away.
“I believe that dog trainers should never make the problem worse and if I don’t have the experience to handle the problem, then I will find somebody with the right experience to deal with it. A lot of the time, the problem is not the dog’s fault but it is the family’s or the owner’s relationship with the dog, but in the end the dogs always suffer.”
Jenny Grant can be contacted for lessons, problem-solving and private consultation on 03 526 8626, or email her on <info@goldenpaws.co.nz>.
Ina Holst
